Newfoundland and Labrador’s transport minister says changing school start times would save between $5 million to 6 million per year, as the province looks for feedback on the newly-proposed schedules.
Last week NL Schools sent out a survey to families, asking about changing the start and end times for dozens of schools in the province. Some start times could change by up to an hour, starting in September 2027.
Transportation Minister Barry Petten said the new schedules would require fewer buses as it would use a “double run” system. Older students would have later start times, he said, as studies show benefits for the age range.
“This is a huge cost savings to government,” said Petten, speaking on CBC Radio’s The St. John’s Morning Show Monday.
Each bus costs about $100,000 per year, he said.
“We’ve got to be able to deliver the same service and not cause too much disruption.”
School day could start and end earlier for thousands of families as government tries to save cash
Petten said Conception Bay South has had success using the “double run” system. The money saved could go towards other costs in the education system, like school maintenance problems, he said.
“You go in by any school, the congestion on parking lots and the number of school buses and they’re not all being maximized,” said Petten.
Petten says he understands the potential inconvenience to parents who need child care and is “curious to see what parents have to say.”
“I don’t want to cause too much disruption to families,” said Petten.
But as minister, he said, the government “[owes] it” to “find the balance.”
In a statement Friday, NDP Leader Jim Dinn called the proposal a “knee-jerk reaction” to a 2023 decision to eliminate the regulation that kept children who live within 1.6 kilometres of their school from taking the bus.
Dinn said he and NDP MHA Sheilagh O’Leary have heard from families who are worried how they’ll be negatively impacted if school start times change in regards to family schedules and child care.
“The abysmal track record of consultation from both the former Liberal government and the current Conservatives does not make me hopeful about the outcome,” said Dinn.
“The bottom line is that we cannot make cuts while maintaining services – this will fall on the backs of parents, students and educators.”
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